Screen reader software applications, or simply “screen readers,” translate textual and graphical information displayed on a screen and re-present it to the user using synthesized speech, sound icons, and/or a refreshable Braille output device. Screen readers are a form of assistive technology (AT) potentially useful to the blind, visually impaired, color blind, low vision, dyslexic, illiterate or learning disabled, often in combination with other ATs such as screen magnifiers and tools for manipulating font type, font size, contrast, and the like.
Native screen readers include the Microsoft Narrator™ for Windows operating systems, Apple's VoiceOver™ for Mac OS X and iOS, and Google's TalkBack™ for Android operating systems. The console-based Oralux Linux ships with three console screen-reading environments: Emacspeak™, Yasr™, and Speakup™ Popular free and open source screen readers include the Orca™ for Unix-like systems and NonVisual Desktop Access (NVDA™) for Windows.
Other screen readers are packaged as separate commercial products such as JAWS™ (Job Access With Speech) from Freedom Scientific, Window-Eyes™ from GW Micro, Dolphin Supernova™ by Dolphin, System Access™ from Serotek, and ZoomText™ Magnifier/Reader from AiSquared.
The ReadSpeaker™ text-to-speech conversion tool available at ReadSpeaker.com speaks website text aloud, but does not allow the user to jump ahead, navigate thru, or otherwise interact with the site. Rather, the user experience is analogous to using a Kindle™ augmented with a screen reader, where the user is a passive listener. Brousealoud™ by texthelp.com and SiteCues by aiSquared allow the user to dynamically re-direct focus to the cursor while playing synthesized speech.
Presently known screen readers are limited, however, in that they do not have the ability to remediate sites which do not comply with industry recognized best practices, such as the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0, Accessible Rich Internet Applications (WAI-ARIA), Authoring Tool Accessibility Guidelines (ATAG), Section 508 Standards & Technical Requirements, and other existing and forthcoming national and international standards and guidelines such as those resources made available at https://www.w3.org/standards/webdesign/accessibility. In particular, the WCAG guidelines variously contemplate, inter alia, descriptive headings/labels (WCAG 2.4.6), proper form input labels (WCAG 1.1.1), appropriate link purposes (WCAG 2.4.4), and text alternatives for non-text content (WCAG 1.1.1).
Systems and methods are thus needed which overcome the limitations of prior art assistive technologies. Various features and characteristics will also become apparent from the subsequent detailed description and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and this background section.